babble home
rabble.ca - news for the rest of us
today's active topics


Post New Topic  Post A Reply
FAQ | Forum Home
  next oldest topic   next newest topic
» babble   » walking the talk   » feminism   » Most sexist beer commercial ever?

Email this thread to someone!    
Author Topic: Most sexist beer commercial ever?
M.Gregus
babble intern
Babbler # 13402

posted 27 August 2007 10:47 AM      Profile for M.Gregus     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
That's the review being given to Heineken's latest commercial by Advertising Age blogger Bob Garfield. The commercial features a cyborg woman with the "Heineken DraughtKeg" -- a beer keg -- in place of her uterus.

quote:
The commercial opens with her strutting mechanically out to a dance floor, Ms. Roboto style, to the pounding techno beat. Then the front of her pleated, futuristic minidress dissolves to reveal her innards. Va va va womb? Nope. We do not see her reproductive organs. This is, after all, the perfect cyberwoman. What we see is a Heineken DraughtKeg.

Most Sexist Beer Commerical Ever Produced? (commercial is available through the link)


From: capital region | Registered: Oct 2006  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560

posted 27 August 2007 10:50 AM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Wow. At this point I'm more bewildered than offended? I read that and thought, huh?

I'm sure the peeve will set in soon enough, once I figure out what the?


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
1234567
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 14443

posted 27 August 2007 11:00 AM      Profile for 1234567     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Anyone remember the Japanese car ad that used the colour of a woman's black eye to advertise the colours of the cars available?
From: speak up, even if your voice shakes | Registered: Aug 2007  |  IP: Logged
clersal
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 370

posted 27 August 2007 11:07 AM      Profile for clersal     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Must be my computer. I saw the lady with the beer in her belly. That was it. I tried to replay but it takes forever on dial-up, so I have no opinion except most commercials are pretty boring and I go back to reading my book when they come on.
From: Canton Marchand, Québec | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
farnival
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 6452

posted 27 August 2007 11:08 AM      Profile for farnival     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
i had a laugh. if it were a buff male android in the ad, it wouldn't even make the news. what made me laugh is the the 6-pack analogy. buff dudes in ads sport "6-pack" abdominals. my buddies and i joke that our workouts build "kegs". basically the classic beer gut.

ok, my helmut and body armour is on in case no one else sees the humour.


From: where private gain trumps public interest, and apparently that's just dandy. | Registered: Jul 2004  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560

posted 27 August 2007 11:31 AM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by 1234567:
Anyone remember the Japanese car ad that used the colour of a woman's black eye to advertise the colours of the cars available?

You can't be serious.


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
1234567
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 14443

posted 27 August 2007 11:41 AM      Profile for 1234567     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I am serious. I've been trying to find it on the internet.

It's a picture of a woman with a black eye. The colours of the bruise fan out to show the different colours of the cars available. I am not joking.


From: speak up, even if your voice shakes | Registered: Aug 2007  |  IP: Logged
Doug
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 44

posted 27 August 2007 12:21 PM      Profile for Doug   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by M.Gregus:
The commercial features a cyborg woman with the "Heineken DraughtKeg" -- a beer keg -- in place of her uterus.

Oh good, they finally made that organ do something useful.


From: Toronto, Canada | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
Makwa
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 10724

posted 27 August 2007 02:10 PM      Profile for Makwa   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
First I thought the character was a take off on the female 'drug-milk' despensing nudes from 'A Clockwork Orange.' It also reminded me somewhat of the Bjork video 'All is Full of Love' with it's sexually objectified 'robots.' Come to think of it, there is also a hint of the 'Maria' robot from Friz Lang's 'Metropolis.' I think that there is somewhat of a tradition of female sexualized 'robots' out there. Other than that, I didn't see it as particularly sexist, outside of most mainstream media. Colour me uninformed, perhaps.
From: Here at the glass - all the usual problems, the habitual farce | Registered: Oct 2005  |  IP: Logged
TemporalHominid
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 6535

posted 27 August 2007 03:34 PM      Profile for TemporalHominid   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
No idea what is going on

when it comes to a lot of things German, Sweden or Japanese I have to say I do not get it. I don't get the humour and the message in commercials usually goes over my head. I don't always get surreal twists to things. I have stopped trying to understand.

Someone sent me a video where in Japan there were 3 or 4 porn couples having a sex championship in a wrestling ring to a crowd of 2000 or 3000 people in a stadium
It was really surreal.


From: Under a bridge, in Foot Muck | Registered: Jul 2004  |  IP: Logged
Tommy_Paine
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 214

posted 27 August 2007 03:59 PM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Would you like to pet my monkey? Now is the time on schprokets when we dance.

The commercial works because it gets our attention, that's all. Sexist? Well yes. I sometimes wonder if beer companies make sexist adds, not as much because sex sells beer to sexually deprived males, but because it just creates attention, period.

quote:
when it comes to a lot of things German, Sweden or Japanese I have to say I do not get it. I don't get the humour

The humourless German is an unfair stereotype. Believe you me, zay haf vaaaaays to make you laugh.


From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
Tommy_Paine
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 214

posted 27 August 2007 04:00 PM      Profile for Tommy_Paine     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
oops.

[ 27 August 2007: Message edited by: Tommy_Paine ]


From: The Alley, Behind Montgomery's Tavern | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
Albireo
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 3052

posted 27 August 2007 09:09 PM      Profile for Albireo     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Nit-pick: Heineken is Dutch, not German.
From: --> . <-- | Registered: Sep 2002  |  IP: Logged
jrootham
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 838

posted 27 August 2007 09:13 PM      Profile for jrootham     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Three Europeans walk into a bar and one of them says these jokes were funnier before the Common Market.
From: Toronto | Registered: Jun 2001  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560

posted 28 August 2007 02:54 AM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Okay, so now I've finally seen the video (couldn't get it to come up yesterday), and I don't know. I think the blog posting is an overreaction. First of all, I think the blogger needs an anatomy lesson if he thinks that's where the uterus is. Secondly, if she's an android, then clearly she's not going to have any internal organs, and she is likely created to do something useful, since that's what robots are made for. I see what they mean about making a beer-fetching android into a sexy female form, and sure, that's sexist. But certainly nowhere near as sexist as tons of other beer commercials out there.

I dunno, I think this guy is overreacting. It's definitely doesn't strike me as more sexist than lots of ads I've seen, beer or otherwise.

1234567, that's incredible.


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
M.Gregus
babble intern
Babbler # 13402

posted 28 August 2007 06:51 AM      Profile for M.Gregus     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
It didn't do much for me either. I can't figure out why, after encountering a huge number of sexist commercials on a regular basis, especially if we're talking beer commercials, this guy has a sense of moral outrage in reaction to this one. What I'm getting is that the sexualization of external female anatomy like breasts, buttocks and legs is acceptable, but the internal reproductive parts are out of bounds. Even if the uterus is in the eye of the beholder.

I mean, the reduction of women to their bodies is sexist, period, but it's interesting that in this blogger's frame of reference the objectification of certain parts is more sexist than others.


From: capital region | Registered: Oct 2006  |  IP: Logged
Stargazer
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 6061

posted 28 August 2007 11:51 AM      Profile for Stargazer     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I don't know about you all but there is nothing sexier than drunken men slurring their words. Now that is hot! I wonder of some guys actually believe if they drink a shit load of beer they'll be able to pick up statuesque models?
From: Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist. | Registered: Jun 2004  |  IP: Logged
HeywoodFloyd
token right-wing mascot
Babbler # 4226

posted 28 August 2007 11:56 AM      Profile for HeywoodFloyd     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by jrootham:
Three Europeans walk into a bar and one of them says these jokes were funnier before the Common Market.

HAH!


From: Edmonton: This place sucks | Registered: Jun 2003  |  IP: Logged
500_Apples
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 12684

posted 28 August 2007 11:59 AM      Profile for 500_Apples   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 

[ 28 August 2007: Message edited by: 500_Apples ]


From: Montreal, Quebec | Registered: Jun 2006  |  IP: Logged
Lego Guy
recent-rabble-rouser
Babbler # 12953

posted 28 August 2007 08:12 PM      Profile for Lego Guy        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Isn't saying "most sexist beer commercial" the same as saying, "most racist neo-con" or "most sexist rap lyrics"? Like, what gives?

Regardless, I did not find the Heineken ad that sexist. Strange yes, but not sexist. After watching the commercial, I am not craving for a beer. So the ad must not be that effective, unless the goal of the advertiser was to generate controversy.

A recent sexist commercial would be that KIA car ad with the policewoman making out with the dude in the car. That was blatantly sexist.


From: Edmonton | Registered: Jul 2006  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560

posted 02 September 2007 05:29 AM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
I think this beer commercial is more sexist than the one in the opening post:

I laughed when I understood the joke, but then I thought about it...basically, this guy used sexual harrassment to force his wife/girlfriend to leave the room and the movie she was watching.

Kind of nasty. Amusing at first, until you really think about what is depicted.


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Digiteyes
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 8323

posted 02 September 2007 07:58 AM      Profile for Digiteyes   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by Michelle:
I think this beer commercial is more sexist than the one in the opening post:

I laughed when I understood the joke, but then I thought about it...basically, this guy used sexual harrassment to force his wife/girlfriend to leave the room and the movie she was watching.

Kind of nasty. Amusing at first, until you really think about what is depicted.


I thought he was using the stereotype (mentioned above) of the drunken slob... because that's the way he was acting. And it's a 0% alcohol beer. He used the sterotype to deliberately get her to leave, at which point he switched to the sports channel and stopped acting drunk.


From: Toronto | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560

posted 02 September 2007 08:35 AM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Yes, I get the joke. I understand that. But they make it look funny for a guy to chase a woman out of a room with unwanted sexual advances that he continues with well after being rebuffed, to the point where she has to fight him off and leave the room to make it stop.

I guess it's okay to sexually assault a woman as long as you're only PRETENDING to be drunk, in order to chase her away from the TV?


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
Digiteyes
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 8323

posted 02 September 2007 09:03 AM      Profile for Digiteyes   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Hmm... watched it another four times, just to check my reactions.

It's a 50-second ad. He makes two approaches that are rebuffed -- that's one section of the ad and it lasts under 10 seconds. They're obviously in a long-enough term relationship -- they're living together.

I have problems calling what he did "sexual assault". Tried to kiss her cheek once, fell face first into her lap and was quickly and easily thrown back into his corner of the sofa. She rebuffed him and left the room. He did not pursue her and insist on foisting his attentions on her.

I'm not going to expose my personal history, but I am not going to broaden my definition of sexual assault to include that. Boundaries with one's significant other are more relaxed than they are with strangers or arm's-length friends. One could argue that maybe I should change my definition, but I have yet to be convinced of it.

Look at maps of where it is OK to touch someone, and for significant others, that map is much more extensive *in private*.

Yes, Ideally, that should not have happened, and he should have come home, seen she was watching a movie that she liked, and he left the room. There's no comedy in that. Comedy frequently stems from reversal of expectations. in a safe way where nobody is hurt (when people are hurt, like Cordelia dies in King Lear, it's tragedy)

I tear that ad apart, and I see a relationship between two people, and an episode playing off stereotypes. I don't see it as inherently sexist and demeaning as a sexy female android whose body cavity is a brewpub (and let's be serious -- they had to put it there because it's the only place on the body that's big enough to hold a keg. It replaces the uterus. It also replaces the heart, lungs, and digestive system).

quote:
Originally posted by Michelle:
Yes, I get the joke. I understand that. But they make it look funny for a guy to chase a woman out of a room with unwanted sexual advances that he continues with well after being rebuffed, to the point where she has to fight him off and leave the room to make it stop.

I guess it's okay to sexually assault a woman as long as you're only PRETENDING to be drunk, in order to chase her away from the TV?



From: Toronto | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged
1234567
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 14443

posted 02 September 2007 09:09 AM      Profile for 1234567     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
In Richmond, BC, firemen have been sexually harassing the women firefighters and they have managed to get several to quit.

Should we allow commercials with pediphiles using chocolate bars to lure children as a way to sell chocolate bars?


From: speak up, even if your voice shakes | Registered: Aug 2007  |  IP: Logged
Digiteyes
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 8323

posted 02 September 2007 09:17 AM      Profile for Digiteyes   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Neither of those subjects is the topic of discussion under the rubric of "Most sexist beer commercial ever?"

A simple reading of the harrassment charges against *coworkers* (not one's significant other) shows we're not talking the
same thing.

This advertisement has nothing to do with pedophiles.

"Slippery slope" arguments are lazy ways to argue, and are rhetorical devices employed to get people to react emotionally rather than deal with the subject. I'm not going there. This is about a beer ad. Nothing more: nothing less.

quote:
Originally posted by 1234567:
In Richmond, BC, firemen have been sexually harassing the women firefighters and they have managed to get several to quit.

Should we allow commercials with pediphiles using chocolate bars to lure children as a way to sell chocolate bars?



From: Toronto | Registered: Feb 2005  |  IP: Logged
1234567
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 14443

posted 02 September 2007 09:19 AM      Profile for 1234567     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Yes, but constant exposure to such sexist adverstising does affect how people treat each other. Especially how men treat women.
From: speak up, even if your voice shakes | Registered: Aug 2007  |  IP: Logged
Michelle
Moderator
Babbler # 560

posted 02 September 2007 09:46 AM      Profile for Michelle   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
First of all, the fact that they're living together in a relationship doesn't mean she can't be sexually assaulted by him, or feel the threat of a sexual assault.

Secondly, what I saw in the ad was:

He kissed her, she pushed him away, making it very clear that the answer is no.

That's where it ends. Everything after that is assault. Even if you're his property - er, oopsie, I mean wife or girlfriend.

He then leans forward and kisses her again, and moves his hand up her thigh. She pushes him away again. Then he falls into her lap. He persists until she fights him off and stands up and angrily runs out of the room.

Haw haw. That's so funny! A woman is chased out of her own living room by her partner groping her repeatedly while she tries to get away.

Unfortunately, a lot of guys don't see that as sexual harrassment or sexual assault. A lot of guys still don't get that "no means no". A lot of guys don't get that most sexual assault happens in the home, and that much of it isn't even RECOGNIZED by men OR women as sexual assault.

He groped her again and again after she'd made it clear she wasn't interested. What's more, he premeditated it - he knew all along that his advances were unwanted, and planned to chase her out. He PURPOSEFULLY assaulted her, it wasn't just a case of whoopsie, I didn't realize she really didn't want me to grope her.

The more I watch this ad, the more pissed off I get about it. This is why a lot of women don't feel safe in their homes. This sort of thing is laughed off as cute, or funny. Isn't it hilarious when women are chased out of their homes by unwanted sexual advances? When the only way you can get your husband to stop groping you is to fight him off and run out of the room? Tee hee! Gosh, that's a knee-slapper.

[ 02 September 2007: Message edited by: Michelle ]


From: I've got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell. | Registered: May 2001  |  IP: Logged
kropotkin1951
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 2732

posted 04 September 2007 01:06 PM      Profile for kropotkin1951   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
No doubt that the second commercial is sexual harassment as humour. NOT FUNNY!!!

The firefighters while a little of a thread drift is not completly off target. Like the beer commercial the firefighters highlight a societal viewpoint that is reprehensible and needs changing.

A woman is not the property of her spouse is easy to say and most non-fundamentalist religious types would agree. It is easy to say that firefighters should not be sexist pigs and worse in relation to their female co-workers. Again easy to say.

The beer comercial however highlights that many people don't get what sexual assault of your spouse might look like. Similarily and it is one of my pet peeves, I see women and men who almost start to salivate at the mention of firefighters attending an event.

The response is completley sexual and says to firefighters we see you as sex objects first and foremost. That is a message that I think is damaging to female firefighters and I wish that progressive people would just stop with those kinds of comments at least give the female firefighters a chance to educate their male coworkers who might be sexist rather than a continual barrage of your the sex gods.


From: North of Manifest Destiny | Registered: Jun 2002  |  IP: Logged
Doug
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 44

posted 05 September 2007 04:51 AM      Profile for Doug   Author's Homepage     Send New Private Message      Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
Or alternatively, one can just treat the male firefighters as sex objects too. That's much more fun.

[ 05 September 2007: Message edited by: Doug ]


From: Toronto, Canada | Registered: Apr 2001  |  IP: Logged
saga
rabble-rouser
Babbler # 13017

posted 07 September 2007 02:18 AM      Profile for saga   Author's Homepage        Edit/Delete Post  Reply With Quote 
quote:
Originally posted by 1234567:
Yes, but constant exposure to such sexist adverstising does affect how people treat each other. Especially how men treat women.

Yes and constant exposure to the a-hole in the vid could make you ... look for a new guy pretty quick!!


From: Canada | Registered: Aug 2006  |  IP: Logged

All times are Pacific Time  

Post New Topic  Post A Reply Close Topic    Move Topic    Delete Topic next oldest topic   next newest topic
Hop To:

Contact Us | rabble.ca | Policy Statement

Copyright 2001-2008 rabble.ca